Is your business ready for sale, finance, investment or succession?
We offer a practical governance readiness assessment for business owners who want to understand whether their leadership, decision-making, finance, risk, cyber, succession and sale-readiness arrangements are strong enough for the next stage.
Many businesses are profitable, growing and valuable, but not yet ready for sale, finance or investment. A buyer, lender or investor will look beyond turnover and profit. They will want to understand how the business is managed, whether decisions are documented, whether financial information is reliable, whether risks are controlled, whether the business depends too heavily on the owner, and whether there are gaps that could reduce confidence or value.
Our Corporate Governance Assessment helps you identify those issues before they become a problem.
Book the Full Interview-Based Assessment — £1,000
Request a Free External Governance Review
Why governance matters before a sale, finance application or succession plan
A strong business can still lose value if it is not ready for scrutiny.
Common issues include:
- over-reliance on the founder or owner;
- unclear decision-making authority;
- weak or inconsistent management information;
- missing contracts, records or due diligence evidence;
- limited financial forecasting;
- undocumented risks;
- poor cyber or data protection evidence;
- no clear succession plan;
- lack of independent challenge;
- unresolved shareholder, family or leadership issues.
These issues can delay a sale, weaken a valuation, reduce buyer confidence, make funders cautious or create unnecessary pressure during due diligence.
The assessment gives you a clear view of what is strong, what needs attention and what should be fixed first.
Two options available
1. Free External Governance Review
Our free external review is a desk-based review using publicly available information, such as your website, Companies House profile, social media and visible business information.
It gives you an initial view of:
- visible strengths;
- potential governance or readiness gaps;
- possible sale, finance or investment concerns;
- whether a full assessment would be useful;
- what a buyer, lender or investor may question.
This is a light-touch review. It does not include confidential documents, interview evidence or detailed scoring.
Best for: owners who are exploring sale, finance, succession or investment and want an initial view before committing to a deeper review.
Cost: Free.
2. Full Corporate Governance Assessment
The full assessment is an interview-based review with the business owner, founder, managing director or CEO. It is designed to test whether the business has the governance, leadership, finance, risk, cyber and decision-making arrangements required for its next stage.
The assessment includes a structured interview, evidence review, scoring across ten governance domains and a practical written report. The underlying assessment method uses a structured interview with the CEO/founder/MD, usually supported by pre-assessment document review and post-assessment reporting.
Cost: £1,000 + VAT
Best for: owners preparing for sale, raising finance, bringing in investors, planning succession, appointing a NED or strengthening the business before growth.
What the full assessment covers
The assessment reviews ten areas of governance readiness:
- Strategic direction and growth ambition
- Ownership, leadership and decision-making
- Board structure and independent challenge
- Financial oversight and finance readiness
- Risk, assurance and internal controls
- Cyber governance and digital resilience
- People, succession and training needs
- Market, innovation and productivity opportunities
- Sale, exit and investment readiness
- External advice, NED, advisory and support requirements
The assessment is deliberately proportionate. It is not about imposing large-company bureaucracy on an SME. It is about understanding whether the business has the right level of structure, evidence and challenge for its size, risk and ambition.
What you receive
After the full assessment, you receive a practical written report covering:
- overall governance readiness score;
- score for each assessment area;
- key strengths;
- top governance risks;
- sale, finance and investment readiness findings;
- cyber and digital governance findings;
- leadership and succession findings;
- recommended support pathway;
- practical 30/60/90-day action plan.
The report is designed to be commercially useful, not academic or theoretical. The assessment framework is intended to produce domain scores, top risks, top opportunities, a recommended support pathway and a 30/60/90-day action plan.
Interested in more details: